The present invention relates to an elevator and a method for remote maintenance and monitoring of an elevator installation.
For operational control there is associated with each elevator installation an elevator control with which sensors and actuators, for example control, actuating and setting elements of the elevator installation, are connected. A microprocessor of the local elevator control reads the input signals and switches the output signals in correspondence with the provided control program or regulating program. The processing of the signals and the data which are stored in the elevator control and describe the elevator installation, for example floor number, drive type, etc., is carried out in a microprocessor in situ at the elevator installation.
Elevator installations, the elevators of which are equipped with, apart from a conventional elevator control, additionally a modem for remote maintenance, are shown in the patent specifications EP 0 252 266 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,478. In this remote maintenance of elevator installations the elevator control of each individual elevator installation respectively communicates under specific conditions with a central service center by means of a modem via the public telecommunications network. The data exchange provided in that case primarily relates to predefined diagnostic data with respect to operational state, disturbances and alarms of all elevator installations connected with the central service center.
In this connection remote maintenance function means that diagnostic data, which concern a specific part or a function of an elevator, are transmitted to a specific service center and evaluated in the service center. A remote maintenance function can monitor, for example, the lighting in the elevator or the vibrations of the drive or the door opening. If the data are communicated only to the service center, the remote maintenance function is monodirectional. If data are also, after evaluation in the service center, communicated from the service center back to the elevator installation the remote maintenance function is bidirectional. A remote maintenance module consists of several remote maintenance functions which relate to the same part or the same function of an elevator, for example lighting or door opening. A remote maintenance system consists of an elevator installation, a service center for the remote maintenance of the elevator and the connection thereof.
A data exchange procedure, which on the one hand forms the communication path and on the other hand regulates access or access authorization to data of the elevator control, is connected upstream of the actual installation-specific data exchange depending on the respective construction and mode of function.
In this manner, elevator installations equipped with an elevator control individual to each elevator, together with modem extension and central service center have proved themselves, yet due to their constructional and functional characteristics to the extent explained they are expensive in terms of devices and only a restricted selection of predefined reports can be transferred monodirectionally to the service center. The maintenance of the individual elevator installations which are connected in the overall system with the service center and are disposed locally far apart from one another turns out to be cost intensive, since, in the case of operational disturbances of an elevator installation or an elevator, lengthy routes arise for the maintenance engineer until the cause of the disturbance is established on site and the disturbance eliminated. Long waiting times also arise in the case of operational disturbances.
These conventional remote maintenance systems for elevator installations are primarily characterized by a fixed configuration of the remote maintenance modules, which makes possibly necessary adaptations of the remote maintenance functions inconvenient and expensive. The number and kind of interfaces is predetermined and limits the flexibility in setting up the remote maintenance functions desired by customers and the market.
A high degree of flexibility of the remote maintenance modules is desired above all if an existing elevator installation is modernized by a remote maintenance system. For example, the elevator installations to be modernized often have a remote alarm system, but often not. In the case of modernization, therefore, a remote alarm function which may happen to be present has to be taken into account as part of the remote maintenance functions.
It is the object of the present invention to indicate a device and method for remote maintenance and monitoring of an elevator installation of the kind stated in the introduction which provides a high degree of flexibility in the selection and configuration of the remote maintenance functions and which proves to be economic.